


Cat Got Your Tongue?

by firstbestdestinys



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Rating for Language, familiar schnanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 21:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13579107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstbestdestinys/pseuds/firstbestdestinys
Summary: "There were many things that Fjord liked about Caleb Widogast; his bright blue eyes that lit up whenever he cast an incantation, his quiet nature punctuated by moments of intense joy and anger, even Caleb’s unkept “rough around the edges” look brought a flutter to Fjord’s chest he couldn’t quite explain.That damned cat, however, was not one of them."Or, Fjord's allergies really get in the way sometimes.





	Cat Got Your Tongue?

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written fan fic in almost 3 years, but these magic dads have left me no choice. Enjoy!

There were many things that Fjord liked about Caleb Widogast; his bright blue eyes that lit up whenever he cast an incantation, his quiet nature punctuated by moments of intense joy and anger, even Caleb’s unkept “rough around the edges” look brought a flutter to Fjord’s chest he couldn’t quite explain.

That damned cat, however, was not one of them.

It wasn’t anything personal, of course. Fjord had nothing particular against cats, even if he was more of a hound person himself. Some people were bothered by Frumpkin’s aloof personality, calling him fickle or even grumpy. Not Fjord, though. In fact, there was a certain endearing quality about the way you had to earn your way into Frumpkin’s good graces that definitely had nothing to do with the fact that it was a quality he shared with his master.

No, Fjord just couldn’t stand all the damn _sneezing_. At first it was just a mild inconvenience – a sneezing fit here and there, mostly in their secluded camps or taverns when they could afford to stay in them. Caleb tended to keep Frumpkin away when they were in public places, summoning him when someone in their party needed comforting or when he had some other, practical need for his familiar. And when Frumpkin wandered close enough for Fjord to fall into one of his sneezing fits, Caleb was kindhearted enough to tuck Frumpkin into whatever pocket dimension magic cats reside in. Not without a good chuckle of course.

But the more their motley group traveled with one another, the more that Fjord realized that his allergies were more than just uncomfortable. It started when Caleb and Fjord started staying up late into the night when the rest of the party was asleep, planning their next move in running away from whatever law enforcement was on their tail this time. Fjord had unintentionally (okay, maybe intentionally) leaned over Caleb’s shoulder for a better glimpse at the map Caleb was studying. He was half listening to the stratagems that Caleb was thinking through aloud.

Feeling emboldened, perhaps by the late hour or the solidarity they had developed of being the only sane ones in their group, he started to rest his chin on Caleb’s shoulder gently. The wizard's body stiffened slightly at the unexpected contact but quickly relaxed again, seemingly comfortable with the warlock’s close presence. It was a such a quiet, peaceful moment that there was no way it could possibly last.

Not ten seconds had passed before the familiar itch started to tickle at Fjord’s nose. _Come on, not now_ , Fjord thought, trying to concentrate on anything except for the sneezing fit he felt coming on. On the one hand, he managed to last a whole minute this way, not even paying attention to the map that they were supposed to be looking at or the plans Caleb was suggesting. On the other hand, when nature finally took its course, one sneeze after another after another forced Fjord to quickly excuse himself to the other side of camp out of embarrassment. As he retreated from the puzzled wizard, Fjord couldn’t help but notice Frumpkin wasn’t anywhere in sight.

 _Fuckin’ hell, I’m even allergic to his fuckin’ coat._ Fjord thought, angry at his body for its weakness. _Must let his cat sleep on it or something._

After a minute or so the itch in his nose subsided and after a few minutes more the embarrassment faded enough that Fjord felt brave enough to head back over to where Caleb had been studying before. On his way back he spoke gently “’Sorry about that, guess I’m pretty…” His voice trailed off as he noticed that Caleb was no longer sitting upright by the fire but horizontal on a bedroll next to Nott and the recently summoned Frumpkin, sound asleep or pretending to be. _Great. Just great._

With little fanfare he rolled out his own sleeping mat, on the other side of the fire from Caleb and that infernal cloak and cat. He rolled over and cursed his luck for falling for a someone with a cat.

A few days passed and Fjord mostly had forgotten about the incident. In the woods that they were travelling, the group had come across a gnoll scouting party. While they were able to dispatch the scouts quickly enough, more care was needed if they were going to take out the camp. After a little bit of discussion, Caleb decided that a bird’s eye view was needed and underwent the spell to transform Frumpkin from orange tabby to sparrow.

The mission was a complete success, mostly because of the key weaknesses that Caleb was able to identify through Frumpkin. They were still a few days out from the nearest town, however, so until then a sparrow Frumpkin stayed. At first Fjord was relieved, expecting at least a slight reprieve from his constantly affronted senses. But it wasn’t long before he could sense a change in Caleb’s countenance, a little more gloomy and quiet than normal. Frumpkin was out even less than normal and Fjord could only guess that the change in the familiar’s form was affecting Caleb’s mood.

That was why at the next town market Fjord found himself separating from the group to find a place that sold enough of the herbs, charcoal, and incense he knew Caleb needed to alter Frumpkin. Even though the amount of gold he handed over to the shopkeep was more than Fjord would have dreamt of spending before, he did so without doubt. Tying the components into bags, Fjord left to go find the rest of the group. Beau, Jester, and Molly were all crowded around an herbalist’s stand, perusing her stand for licit and illicit substances alike. Smiling to himself, Fjord continued his way down the tables.

It wasn’t long until Fjord found what he was looking for. “Yes, I think that’s enough shopping for today,” Caleb said as he started to grab Nott by the collar of her shirt, dragging her away from a particularly exorbitant stand.

“But Caleb—” the shopkeep’s eyes followed them as they departed from the table but made no motion to follow.

“Next time, Nott, when we have a little more coin to spend.” Normally Caleb was one to indulge his friend’s thieving habits, but they had just arrived and no one wanted to have to leave as soon as they got there. “We don’t want to—” Caleb continued until he caught Fjord’s eye as the amused warlock was standing a few paces away, arms crossed. “Hello there,” the wizard offered.

“Hey Caleb, Nott,” Fjord returned, nodding at each of them. An awkward moment passed before Fjord shifted from one foot to another and looked back up at Caleb’s dirt-ridden face. “You know, I never got to thank you for Frumpkin’s help the other night. He really came in handy and I’m not sure we would have gotten out as well without him.”

Red started to creep up the wizard’s neck towards his face. “Oh, it was nothing, really—”

“Yeah, Caleb does that all the time with Frumpkin!” Nott chimed in, beaming up at Caleb proudly. “His magic really is something special,” added, making Caleb’s face even more red and Fjord’s heart even warmer.

“It certainly is,” Fjord replied, not breaking eye contact with Caleb. A moment later he took out two small blue drawstring bags, tossing one after the other to Caleb. "I got you these as a way of thanking you. One’s to get Frumpkin back to normal and the other, well…that’s in case we need one of his other talents later down the road.”

Caleb’s eyes got wide and he stared to walk towards Fjord. “Oh, no, there’s no need…I can’t possibly accept this.” He held out the bags back to Fjord who shook his head.

“It’s nothin’, Caleb. We’d be dead several times over without those powers of yours. It’s the least I can do,” Fjord replied. They’d been over this several times before, but somehow Fjord could never convince Caleb of his worth and place on the team. When Caleb didn’t move, Fjord repeated himself. “It’s nothin’, really.”

Their eyes locked for a moment longer before loud raucous laughter carried over from a few stalls over. Both Caleb and Fjord turn around at the same time to see Molly and Jester with small pouches in their hands sharing some sort of joke while Beau was leaning heavily against the table, saying something low to the herbalist, making her blush. Fjord sighed and before Caleb could say anything more the half-orc started to make his way towards the rest of his makeshift family before they could get into any more trouble.

Later that night after they had picked a nicer-than-usual tavern to stay at, Fjord had made himself comfortable on the sofa in front of the fireplace, using the warm light to make some repairs to his well-used bedroll and to collect his thoughts. He felt rather than saw Caleb join him on the other side, pulling out a new book that he had likely purchased from the market earlier the day. While this wasn’t a particularly new occurrence, Fjord couldn’t help but feel a little warmer than before.

They sat together in silence for awhile, both working on their crafts, before Fjord’s sharp senses picked up the soft padding of feet approach him. Before he could react, the lithe feline form of Frumpkin jumped on the arm of the chair and walked onto his lap. Fjord stiffened, anticipating the attack on his senses that he knew was coming, cursing his luck and kindhearted nature…

…but nothing came. A full minute passed and there wasn’t an itch, not even a tickle of the allergies that Fjord had grew accustomed to over the past few weeks. Hesitantly, he reached out his hand to pet down Frumpkin’s head down his spine. Frumpkin started purring and settled on Fjord’s lap. _This is new._ “Guess I’ve gotten used to him,” he offered aloud and put down the bedroll he was working on to pet Frumpkin more.

As Fjord looked at Frumpkin more intently, he started to realize a few subtle changes. A sleek, more muscular form with shorter fur with more spots than stripes, what was once reddish fur was more yellow. “What the…” he started when he heard a warm chuckle next to him.

Fjord looked up to meet Caleb’s crystal blue eyes regarding him fondly. “What happened to him?” Fjord asked again, unable to help the awe in his voice whenever he talked about Caleb’s magic.

Caleb gave him a smile Fjord was worried would melt him right then and there. “Nothing. Well, nothing serious. I—well, we—we thought that you might want not sneeze so much any more, be a little more comfortable since we’re probably going to be traveling together for awhile. And while Frumpkin prefers to be a cat he’s not particularly picky about what kind of cat.” As he kept talking, his voice went from confident to more unsure. He glanced away from Fjord’s gaze and looked to his book, much safer to look at. “I know it’s not much…”

Fjord could feel the self-doubt and deprecation coming on so he looked to stop it in his tracks. “No, Caleb, its incredible,” he said honestly. He struggled to find the right words for a moment before settling on the only ones that he could find. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” His voice came out more raw than intended and Caleb looked back up again.

“It’s nothing.” Caleb responded, this time holding Fjord’s gaze until the half-orc himself dropped it, overwhelmed by the show of affection and focusing on the cat’s resting form instead.

They stayed by the fire of the inn for a couple more hours, each working on their respective tasks, enjoying the warm silence of each other’s company. And when Caleb shifted himself so that his shoulder was leaning against Fjord’s, the warlock couldn’t help but think that his luck was going to be a lot better from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that the pictures that Liam has posted of Frumpkin show that he is most likely some sort of bengal mix, bengal purebreeds are supposed to be hypoallergic. Therefore the transformation that takes place is likely from a general tabby cat to a bengal...or just something magical in nature. Fantasy animals are weird and fantasy allergies are weirder.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
